Thursday, 1 November 2012

why oh why?

what's the connection?

plenty of bandwagon jumping has been going on, we are told. First there was a memorial ceremony in Reading for LibDem former mayor Jim Day - I remember him as Not Safe In Taxis, as they used to say - which, inexplicably, Mr Salter attended, making a speech about himself, which was described by one who was there as "totally inappropriate". Why was Mr S there? He was MP for Reading West, which includes the Tilehurst area represented by Jim Day for many years. OK. But Mr S spent almost all his time as MP prancing about and doing photocalls in Reading East. And for quite a lot of Jim Day's time the MP for Reading West was Sir Anthony Durant. Is Sir Anthony still alive? If so was he there? If not why not? Mr S has form on this. When a person who has or has had prominence in Reading political life dies Mr S forces himself on the family, pestering the grieving relatives until they give in and let him speechify about himself at the obsequies. He's even done it to the families of murder victims. Jim Day was mayor, there must have been some civic input into the memorial, so why was Mr S allowed to take it over like this?

The picture, from His Master's Voice, shows an event held (now we're getting back to normal) in Reading East, at the Pakistan Community Centre, at which a German former journalist was promoting her book about her conversion to Islam. It might well have been an interesting event. You can see though from the picture that Mr S is not pictured with the author, meaning that he was not directly associated with the event, but he was present there (you can see the publicity behind him) promoting something quite different. So why was Mr S at this event? Was the Reading East MP invited to this event in his constituency? If not why not?

Mr S is promoting a "big get-well card" for Malala Yousafzai, the girl shot by the Taleban for speaking out for education for girls. A bit late to support her now, after she has been shot. Mr S has visited Pakistan, once to my knowledge, in the company of, and as the guest of, male dignitaries of Pakistani origin from Reading. Nowhere around that visit did he speak out for girls' education or against the Taleban. Quite to the contrary, he gave a platform to known Taleban supporters who said they would not let their daughters go to school. And of course we all know that back in the day he marched with the book-burners of The Satanic Verses. There were informal groupings in Parliament on these matters in my time there, including one which raised money and awareness for girls' education in Afghanistan. I belonged to this group and donated to a girls' school in Afghanistan. Mr Salter did not. I currently help to support five children in Pakistan, contributing so that they can attend a school which educates both boys and girls, together. Does Mr Salter do any of these things? He did not in his time in Parliament, and had nothing to say on the subject. So why is he promoting this now?

Why? Mr Salter has only ever promoted anything, or publicly supported any cause, if he sees it as in his own interest. The Angling Trust, which Mr S told us loudly a while ago that he was now organising, has gone rather quiet, and it has been weeks since we have seen any pictures of Mr Salter gurning at parliamentary receptions on their behalf. So I imagine he has moved on to other things. The question is what? I thought an elected mayor of Reading had bitten the dust as a notion. But maybe not. And maybe he just needs a job. I remember him saiying, as if it were something profound he had only just thought of, "there's nothing so ex as an ex-MP".

Why? Not only why is he doing this but why, apart from the usual obligations His Master's Voice has to copy out everything Mr Salter sends them, is his appearance being publicised in this way? I only ask.

I think that Mr McGranor means that the dual paradigmatic hegemony of postmodernism and neoliberalism delineate existential domains that are discrete from that level of consciousness at which higher levels of divine spatial awareness manifest.